LOST IN SPACE-Attack of the Monster Plants, Return from Outer Space

NARRATION: Last week as you recall, we left Professor John Robinson and Judy at work refining atomic ore, unaware, a short distance away from them, a treacherous, man devouring pit lay waiting for its prey.

TEASER-fully recapped--music a bit different during cliffhanger

Judy and John (John in his T-shirt) are the drill site. Judy has a radioactive counter which reads 8.4 to 9.7--the richest vein they've found yet. Judy rushes, "Oh, I'll go tell the others."John tells her to tell her mother to pack a lunch for "us" ---they will be there all day. Smith, with his parka on, sits on a rock near a device. Writing, John tells him they need four more canisters of fuel. The machine does not make deutronium, it merely refines and concentrates radioactive ore. Smith is eager to get off this "wretched planet" and goes on, "...in no time at all we'll be off into the heavens, an infinitely better people for our ordeal, conditioned to survive in any kind of environment, toughened by our encounters with alien life forms...immune to..."Smith gasps as he sees the vine move around and strangle hold John's ankle and foot. The vine drags John into a pit of sand and John starts to sink. Smith yells for help. John yells for Smith to give him his hand but Smith won't help. John reaches back for something to hold onto (end of cliffhanger). Don, in his T-shirt, comes running and is also soon stuck in the quicksand (?) despite John's warning, "Don't get too close, Don!" Don yells, "Smith get over here!"John looks at Smith who yelled "No, no!"John says, "Don't just stand there, do something!"Smith comes over and John's pull starts dragging him into the pit also. Smith's jacket is pulled off. Smith moves back and runs off. Don says, "That dirty..."John says, "We need help!"Smith runs for help, telling them he will do that. John, mad, throws Smith's jacket out of his way.

ACT ONE

Will plays lasso with a rope, Penny plays with Debbie, Judy and Maureen are doing something. Smith walks in calmly and tells Will to fetch a rope to his father and Major West. Maureen tells Will that Dr. Smith asked him to do something. Will complains, "He's always asking me to do something."Smith says, "No insolence."When Will goes, Smith tells Maureen and Judy, "When I was a boy, children didn't dilly dally when their elders asked them to do something."Smith goes up the ramp into the ship. Judy tells Maureen, "He's right, mother, Will never does anything I ask him to, either."Maureen says, "I'll talk to him."Will sees John and Don in the pit and throws the rope to them; John directs him to secure it to a tree. Don is almost under but the two men climb out. Will tells them Smith didn't tell him they were in trouble. Don says, "Now he's in trouble."Later, Don kicks Smith out of the ship with all his bags. Judy sticks up for Smith against Don's "unfair"treatment. "Mom, Dr. Smith didn't do anything wrong really."Don spouts, "That's just why we're throwing him out--he never does anything, every time there's trouble he runs, who needs him."Smith tells Judy she was the only one who cared enough to protest against this barbaric treatment. Smith warns Don, "If you don't take me, no one will go."He says goodbye to the children whom he considers "almost" his own. He won't say goodbye to Debbie. Smith takes his stuff; Don tosses a bed roll to him. Judy cries, "I think you're cruel, all of you!"She runs into the ship. Maureen tells Don, "She just doesn't like to see anybody hurt, that's all."He goes in after her. Maureen calls John outside; Don follows. The detronium canisters left on the table are gone. John sends Don after Smith, Don saying, "You bet!"It is an enjoyable chore for Don to get the canisters back. The hydroponic garden is set up again in tables as well as in the ground. Smith calls the Robot a ninkompoop and hands Robot all the bags. Smith will let him share his banishment--exile. Don catches up with him, chases him around Robot and two fuel cans fall. Don gets them and tells Smith the decision to take Smith with them is still up to Prof. Robinson but if he asks for Don's vote, Don is voting to leave him here. Later, behind a rock, Smith spies on Will, John, and Don, all three in T-shirts, at the drillsite. John takes five cans. Don knows Smith is listening so gives Will a fuel canister and fakes a lie to Judy about not taking Smith. The fuel to weight ratio will be critical--Smith will have to be left behind. Smith leaves as Judy says, "I thought daddy said he was taking Dr. Smith."Don's tease is called nasty by Judy. Don says, "He deserved it."Smith intercepts Will to say goodbye--he says. Will tells him, "My father promised that you were coming with us."Smith calls it a lie, then not the whole truth. One of us has to be left behind. Smith takes Will to his "humble" campsite and Will sees many shaving kits. Smith puts a kit on the rock near a flower stalk and petals. They hear a strange sound and the kit is engulfed by the flower as it bends over the kit and rock. Smith pulls the kit out of the pod and finds another. It made anexact duplicate of it--he has three watches on his arm now. He has more pork and beans and bacon cans. Smith takes the canister, "You too want to see me abandoned on this forsaken planet,"he says to con Will into giving it to him. Will says, "Golly" twice. Smith figures cellular mitosis, cell division in these plants duplicates not just themselves but anything. Smith grabs Will's arm and promises to make more detronium if he tells his father to take him. Smith keeps one can. Will goes. Smith pours the pellets back and forth from cap to can. He puts the can down.The flower stalk knocks it over. Will goes to Don and John at the drillsite. John looks at the can Smith gave Will--and crushes it--it's a plant, "He gave you this fake and kept the real deutronium."By the rock, Smith listens and Don answers Will's question of why, loud enough for Smith to hear, "Because he knows we can't go back to Earth unless we have enough detronium."Don goes on to explain that they found another vein and now have enough detronium without the one he stole. John wants to get the ones they have back to the ship safely. They move to leave and Will says, "And leave Dr. Smith out here."Later, Smith goes to John outside the Jupiter II and makes a bargain. He will give him the extra fuel can for a spare. John says, "We'll take you along if it's humanly possible. Concerning your recent behavior, that's more than being fair."Smith goes to get the can but find that the plant ate the detronium. Smith finds more and more giant flowers and high stalks, "Good heavens--they feed on deutronium!"

ACT TWO

Smith goes to camp. Maureen leaves him and goes inside the ship. Smith tells the truth to John--the plants ate the deutronium. Smith says, "I'm doomed to be left behind."He tells John to remember he did not volunteer for this mission (an argument he told to Hapgood in WELCOME, STRANGER). John touches his shoulder, "I bear that in my mind, Dr. Smith."Smith goes to Penny, Debbie, and Will near a rock and sits. Will tells him, "You shouldn't have tried to trick me."Smith says, "I didn't just try--I succeeded, let's not forget that."Penny asks Smith, "If you do stay, will you tend to my garden for me?"Smith says, "Your garden will wither and die--I promise you that!"Don puts his hand on Smith's shoulder and tells him he computed the fuel to weight ratio--and it's critical. Penny wants to take the bloop. Smith argues for himself over the bloop. Will insists, "I think the bloop should go!"Penny adds, "So do I!"Don tells them there is no way she can without some sort of capsule. Will says, "I'll build her one."Don shakes his hand, "It's a deal."Smith says, "Bloop indeed!"He's worried by all this. Smith in his parka goes to the Robot at night and finds the Robot let his campfire go out. Yet Robot insists he did tend the fire. Smith wonders why he has to be so literal. Judy is among the flowers. Smith watches. Judy smells the flowers. One large one opens its petals (amid MR. NOBODY music). She appears to be in some kind of a trance. Judy goes to the opening one and lies down, curling up. The petals close around her sleeping form.

ACT THREE

Smith smiles as Judy goes to sleep. He tells Robot he will be winging his way back to Earth soon and that the balance of power has changed. Robot says, "That does not compute."Smith laughs and lays down and continues to laugh, "I can hardly wait for morning."Smith saunters into the Jupiter II camp that next morning. Maureen ignores him for breakfast. Smith is cheerful and sees John shaving using a small mirror. Smith tells Maureen she has a pioneer loveliness--he's always said so. When Don comes out, Smith calls him the representative from the military who is rubbing the sleep from his eyes like a little boy. Smith goads them, asking where Judy is--he doesn't see her, the fairest flower of them all. Penny tells him she likes to sleep late. Don says, "If you've done anything to her, Smith."Smith says, "Please--I wouldn't harm a hair on her head."Penny and Will return from Judy's cabin with the news that she is gone. Smith tells them he had nothing to do with her disappearance but gives them two choices--one being they leave with he taking Judy's place--which they won't do. The other choice is Major West takes Smith to Earth, leaving the family here bathed in togetherness and love. When he arrives on Earth, he will organize a rescue mission. Smith wants breakfast now. Later, Smith orders Will to bring out items. Will finishes taking out his own things from the ship. Smith tells him now to start packing Smith's things in and Smith packs Will's arms up with stuff. Penny takes boxes out; Debbie is carrying a luggage suitcase out. Debbie hangs on Penny's arm as Penny goes back inside, taking Smith stuff in. Smith goes to Maureen, "Well things seem to be going very well, don't they..."he sees Maureen's accusing stare, "...dear lady."He backs away from her. John and Don check telemetry--it all checks out. Don storms, "John, we can't let that little worm force me to take him back and leave you here."John says, "Well, we can't leave without Judy."Smith is in the doorway and tells them to get on with it. Smith goes back outside. Don tracks Smith out and chokes him from behind. Smith fakes his heart and then a seizure. Don yells, "Smith you got to tell me where she is!"Smith points just as John starts to pull Don off Smith, "Don!"Judy is coming over the ridge into the campsite. Maureen hugs her. Maureen says it doesn't matter what happened to her. Don looks for Smith and wants to beat him up. Smith tells him he was merely joshing...just as Don was. John says, "It's all over now, Don, Judy's back with us."Maureen throws a celebration dinner and even invites Smith. All go into the ship. Dinner that night outside the ramp--just outside it. Maureen tells Judy this salad is her favorite--little hearts of cyclamen and mixed greens. Judy snaps at her that she isn't hungry and wants to go to bed. Don offers to walk her in but she snaps at him not to bother. The ship looks bigger than ever. After dinner, Smith goes out and starts to undig one of the stalk plants to put in a bucket. He will be a rich man when he takes this on his return to Earth. He sees Judy there, touching the giant plants. "Good Heavens, she's one of them!"Judy, at first nicely, calls, "Come here."Then she commands him, "Come here."Smith goes and lies to her, telling her he was checking to see if Will left anything of his behind. He knows she is a duplicate. She says, "I bring them detronium."Smith cons her into giving him back two detronium cans for him and Major West to fly home in. Then the Robinsons will stay here and make as much detronium as she wants. We hear some brief DERELICT music. After Smith leaves, the duplicate Judy feeds the plants the detronium.

ACT FOUR

Morning--a bright morning blocked out from the Jupiter II control room by giant flowers, stalks, pedals, and growth. Will gasps, "Holy cow!"He calls the others up. John, Maureen, Don, and Penny come up and John figures it is cyclamin. Don says, "Any organism that grows that rapidly will sooner or later snuff out any other life on the planet."The Chariot is near the hatch. Don and John will go to it and use the neutron gun attachment. John tells Maureen not to open the hatch again unless he or Don is right beside it. They get to the Chariot. Don fires out the bubble hatch which is wide open. The flowers and plants just bounce back. Judy runs outside and the flowers move aside for her. She goes to the Chariot and pulls Don's neutron gun wire out, then makes her way to the front of Chariot and scrambles with John's weapon power. John fights with her and her sleeve rips. Beneath it, he sees two strange marks on her arm. Judy looks savage, snarling and mean with grit teeth. They take her back to the Control Room. Maureen asks, "Who are you? What are you? What have you done with our Judy?"Don snaps, "Alright, let's have it!"The plant Judy says, "I'm sure you are aware, as Dr. Smith is, that we, the plants, are capable of reproducing an image of anything."The real Judy is safe and unaware of what has happened. When Maureen asks if she will give her back, the duplicate Judy smiles, "No but I can give you what Judy very nearly has--immortality on this planet. She wants more detronium."Don tells her they can't--they don't have enough fuel to give her for that. She says, "You have none at all. I fed the last of your supply to the plants last night."In exchange for immortality, she wants them to make more detronium. John tells her there won't be more--they don't make it--they find it in the ground. Maureen asks, "Then we won't be leaving this planet, will we, John?"John says, "I'm afraid not, darling."Plant Judy tries to reach Smith, telling him he lied. John is madder at him, "You let us go on thinking this was Judy, knowing that Judy was out there somewhere."Smith yells, "You were going to leave me here!" Don wonders how Smith knows Judy is okay and chokes Smith into telling him where she is. Smith lies but John sees through it and Smith tells the truth. Maureen and John push the plant Judy into her seat. Don wants to try fire but they can't; John suggests freezing--but same problem. Will tells them they can freeze the plants--he experimented with the plants and found out they freeze at 44 degrees (NOTE: This is bad---liquids freeze at 32 degrees and can only be frozen unless Will meant the plants go dormant). Will is sure. Night: using decontamination units, John, Don, and Smith are freezing the plants. They have on parkas. Plant Judy is gasping for air. Plants fall. John finds Judy and holds her. She is unconscious.

TAG

Judy wakes up, complaining of cold. Smith gives her a blanket. Daytime--the camera pans from a rock to Will, Smith, and Debbie walking with buckets. Penny drifts off somewhere else, behind them. Robot is trying to find a vein of radioactive ore and his sensors need to be free of burden, thus Smith complains of them doing work for the machine. They pass trees and a large rock. Smith tells Will, "Your father's desire for revenge has broken me."Will says it is not revenge--they need rock samples to see if they can find radioactive ore. Debbie puts a large rock in the bucket Smith is carrying. He yells at her, "Stop that!"Smith tells Will to tell his father to vent his hostilities on someone else. Will yells as Smith walks off, Debbie following him. Penny finds a nest and an egg but it is high up on the alien machine, suddenly now named Taurons. This is one of the machines the aliens left when they came. Dad told Penny and the others not to go near them. Debbie climbs up the machine. Penny climbs up to get the huge egg and hands it to Smith when she comes down. Smith will prepare it to rival the culinary delights of Ancient Rome. Penny calls Debbie down after Smith vacates the area. Debbie turns a switch and the machine lights up in places. Penny takes Debbie down (telling Debbie, "You know what Dad said about those things") and backs up as the machine sparks. She backs into a flat disk area on the ground. A ray comes from the mirror like device on the machine and envelops her and Debbie (the monkey like alien life form in her arms). She bangs on it. The ray goes up and she, it, and Debbie are gone!

TO BE CONTINUED NEXT WEEK SAME TIME SAME CHANNEL

REVIEW: A good episode, perhaps the best Judy centered episode. Odd that since the real Judy has very little to do in it. It is Marta's great acting as the plant Judy that gives this story menace. Woodfield constructed a good story, despite not really knowing the characters. At this point, would Smith really have fooled Will so easily? Wouldn't Will have noticed his canister was a plant? Would Maureen and John have let Smith join in on their dinner after what he did to Judy? We do know Smith would have used these means to get himself on the Jupiter. Will seems almost cold to Smith here. Despite some of this, this tale is really rather interesting all the way throughout and holds one's attention. It is nice to have Don conning Smith for a change; also fun to see how the children give Smith his worries when they start to not like him and what he is doing, especially when they want to take the bloop...despite what is happening to him. I don't know how much time lapsed between Judy being found and the cliffhanger with Penny and Debbie being whisked off by the Matter Transfer Unit of the alien Taurons (now thus named on air), but the plants vanished from around the campsite pretty quickly and from the area in general. Also, what the heck happened to the plant Judy? Did she wilt? Did she die? Did she...we are not told or shown. The plants did not seem to be intent on killing anyone or even harming the Robinsons--they didn't hurt Judy even when being frozen by the men so why couldn't they just walk to Judy and pull her out--why did they have to freeze the plants--just to walk past them? Ahh, well, another case of crime against the murdering space family Robinson. Don's teasing of Smith was as petty and childish as Smith. In fact, it drove Smith to do close to his worst--not revealing where Judy was. Of another note is the fact that nothing is mentioned of the destination the Robinsons chose to try for in THE RAFT---Alpha Centauri. I guess they would chose whichever they felt they could get to at the time but here it seems they would try for Earth if they could get into space. This, of course, changes back to Alpha Centauri later on (BLAST OFF INTO SPACE).

RETURN FROM OUTER SPACE

working title Home Sweet Home

WRITER-PETER PACKER

DIR-NATHAN JURAN

MUSIC-there is some incidental stock music not heard in any other episode.

NARRATION: Last week, as you recall, Dr. Smith, Will, and Penny were returning from a rock gathering expedition, unaware that hidden in the undergrowth nearby lay an alien machine of unbelievable powers.

TEASER-almost fully recapped but no Judy, John, Don, and Smith in the flower freezing scene at the end, also note more footage at the very opening.

Daytime--Will, Smith, Penny, and Debbie walk with buckets. We see more of the shot from before the camera pans across the rock (a few extra seconds of additional footage). Penny is clearly with the group this time but drifts off somewhere else, behind them. Robot is trying to find a vein of radioactive ore and his sensors need to be free of burden, thus Smith complains of them doing work for the machine. They pass trees and a large rock. Smith tells Will, "Your father's desire for revenge has broken me."Will says it is not revenge--they need rock samples to see if they can find radioactive ore. Debbie puts a large rock in the bucket Smith is carrying. He yells at her, "Stop that!"Smith tells Will to tell his father to vent his hostilities on someone else. Will yells as Smith walks off, Debbie following him. Penny finds a nest and an egg but it is high up on the alien machine, suddenly now named Taurons. This is one of the machines the aliens left when they came. Dad told Penny and the others not to go near them. Debbie climbs up the machine. Penny climbs up to get the huge egg and hands it to Smith when she comes down. Smith will prepare it to rival the culinary delights of Ancient Rome. Penny calls Debbie down after Smith vacates the area. Debbie turns a switch and the machine lights up in places. Penny takes Debbie down (telling Debbie, "You know what Dad said about those things") and backs up as the machine sparks. She backs into a flat disk area on the ground. A ray comes from the mirror like device on the machine and envelops her and Debbie (the monkey like alien life form in her arms). She bangs on it. The ray goes up and she, it, and Debbie are gone! NOTE: FOR ONCE, THE TEASER ENDS ALMOST EXACTLY WHERE THE CLIFFHANGER ENDED. We hear some odd sound after the ray vanishes completely.

NOTE: One syndication copy of this episode has the theme song end with "LOST IN SPACE brought to you by..."

ACT ONE

Smith is finishing his omelet and lies to Maureen about what it is she is smelling, telling her it is herbs from the hydroponic garden. She knows there are no eggs on this planet (well, are there? Don once thought a bird dropped clay in MY FRIEND MR. NOBODY; Will commented that they didn't see any birds in THE RAFT--but a planet even one smaller than Earth as Priplanus presumably is, can have birds in one place and not another; also presumably the machine could have brought some bird egg along with it or it could have been the aliens' egg--who knows?). Don and John come out of the ship asking about carbon tetrachloride. Smith says he uses it to remove stains--he's used it and left the top off. John asks him if he has any thoughts besides his immediate needs---without the carbon tetrachloride they will lose their food supply. They use it as food preservation (NOTE: how is a mystery---it is highly toxic). They will have to eat only non-perishable items and now face a food shortage (what about the hydroponic garden?). John finds Smith's egg shell. Smith doesn't remember it but Will does--he was rock hunting with Smith when he saw it on the other side of the rock cave. John warns him to stay away from the Tauron's left over Matter Transfer Unit. Maureen looks at Smith as she and John go into the Jupiter II. Will asks Smith about Penny. He lies: he would never let Penny go near that machine. He suggests they go look for her (nice of him, hey?). They take celery along with them and go to the machine. Wind blows Will's hair. It also looks as if Will has a black eye. Smith tells Will that the Robot didn't promise not to monkey with the machine and orders the "steely eyed sorcerer"to work his magic on it. Robot detects a replicator, regenerator, and transfer device and puts them on. He also puts on a timing phase signal. Smith, annoyed at all the time it takes, pulls Will away but forgets his lunch basket--having left it on the disk. We see an overhead shot as Will find the lunch basket is gone. Robot gives Will the scientific name for celery. It is now in a state of molecular change. The commands Robot has to give the machine and Tauron language are incompatible. Will tells him to try something way and really wild. Robot signals several times. The machine sparks and the ray comes down. Penny and Debbie reappear inside it. Penny doesn't realize what's happened and asks Will, "Where have you been?"Will asks, "Where have YOU been?"Penny chases Debbie, who runs off. Will calls after Penny. He takes the basket, "The Matter Transfer Unit really works."When Smith returns, Will tells him the lunch reappeared "on the very spot that you're standing!"Will runs; Smith fearful, slips off the disk. Control Room, Will is telling the rest of the family while Smith and the Robot are seen outside heading in. Will says, "We were trying to.."John asks, "We?"Smith says, "Oh, I've just come from our remote weather station--I spent the whole morning there."John and Don will destroy the matter transfer machine--the temptation to tamper with it is too great and too dangerous. It operates on a maser beam. They will put the Tauronic box of tricks out of commission. Don tells Smith, "Nothing's logical where you're concerned, Smith."Smith says, "You and I will never be friends, Major."Don laughs, "That's the first logical thing you've ever said."In his pjs, Will plans, lying on his bed. He talks to himself out loud, tempted to use the machine. Early morning, he puts up a sign: WARNING--THIS INSTRUMENT IS THE PROPERTY OF TAURONS! IF YOU TRY TO DESTROY IT, YOU WILL BE SEVERELY PUNISHED. Will plots a round trip to Earth via the Robot. Robot says, "Destination: Earth is my planet of origin."Will will remain there until high noon--12 hundred hours. Will goes the disk but forgets his lunch bag. Robot tells him not to get it--the transfer is already operating. The machine blasts, a ray comes down and takes Will away with it.

ACT TWO

Will lands on a roof thanks to the maser beam. A roof of snow in an old west type of town--on top a gift shop overhang. Snow falls onto an older boy, Davey Sims, (who looks about 15 or 16). There is snow all over this town--Hatfield Four Corners in Vermont at Christmas Time (although it may as well be MAYBERRY RFD or Bedford Falls from IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE). There is a tree, new music, and a wagon (?) that Davey is using. He's been there a half hour and hadn't seen Will. Will tells him he came from Priplanus, coming down from the roof, "That's a planet in another galaxy."Will uses his radio to try to call Alpha Control but Davey grabs it. When Will grabs it back, it falls and breaks. Davey tells him with a dime he can get Will a new toy radio. Davey mentions Will should call his mother and he will freeze in that outfit. Will tells him his mother is at least ten light years away (more than that too---our galaxy is ten thousand light years across--and Priplanus is in another galaxy). Davey brings him back to his house where he lives with his Aunt Clara (Reta Shaw who presents as a kindly but dumb old woman aka THE GHOST AND MRS. MUIR later on; Shaw also appeared on BEWITCHED as Hagatha in THE WITCHES ARE OUT and Aunt Hagathalater in the series--SAM'S WITCHCRAFT BLOWS A FUSE). Will slips to the phone and calls the operator--another dumb hick type called Mrs. Racial (I'll say!) who won't let Will through to Colonel Mason and when Davey stops Will from using the very old fashioned phone, she tells him, "He'd better not ask me to get him no Colonel or General, wasting my time with all that space nonsense!"Will tells Davey, "I only wanna call Alpha Control. Can't you get your aunt to give me permission to do that? We took off for Alpha Centauri and we ran into a meteor storm which knocked out a lot of instruments and we landed on this unidentified planet and that's where we all are...all except for me that is."The heavy weight old aunt gives Will apple pie and ice tea. Will tells her they are good--they are on short food rations on Priplanus due to the food storage purifier. Will mentions 0900--which Davey tells Clara means nine o'clock. Will tries the phone again but Clara stops him and sits him in the living room. "Now Will dear, I know it's great fun being an astronaut and traveling through space and landing on strange planets. I remember the Robinson family very well. They were the first family in space. I guess we all remember how exciting it was when they took off last year (meaning this is now 1998--however is it December of 1997 or is it that this takes place after December 31st, 1997--there is a Christmas Tree and it is obviously Christmas time but last year means last year so perhaps this is some few days into the New Year or maybe Clara is just speaking in general).

Clara goes on and this part is a bit spooky--more so than any aliens, "...Oh, it seems like such a long time ago now and things happen so fast in the world today--I'm afraid a lot of people have already forgotten about them. Ahh, Will...maybe if you could too. Think about your own family."Will stands up, "The Jupiter II crashed onto a hillside,"and he explains that where his family is, about the Taurons' Matter Transfer Unit and the Robot, his looking for iron ore. Clara leaves with Will to go to the Sheriff--a dumbo named Sheriff George Baxendale (we only know his last name from the credits and promo material, it is never really clearly stated as far as I can tell). Will keeps asking George to phone Alpha Control. The idiot tells Will he can get through to Alpha Control in a split second if he has to. The problem: he and the town council don't want the town to be made a laughing stock of if the story turns out not to be true. Clara tells George, "Oh George, he's very young, now you won't do anything?"George tells her to stop being so silly--he has two boys of his own (poor kids). Clara asks Will to come and see "us"when he is settled (she is a real traitor innshe?). A real hick named Lacy is the newsman who wants the yarn for the local newspaper's weekend edition. He, looking like the stupidest, is actually the smartest--he will put a call into Alpha Control to check the story out (but he takes too long to do it and doesn't really believe Will's "yarn")--for he next says perhaps the story will urge parents not to allow their children to take this science fiction stuff too seriously. The bus reads Hatfield County Home For Boys. The Sheriff goes the woman who runs the home, Ruth Templeton (although I cannot recall hearing her last name in the aired version).

On the planet now named Priplanus (by Will?), John and Don go to the Robot. Don orders him to return to camp, "And as your friend Dr. Smith would say, no dawdling on the way."Robot refuses to move. John finds the sign Will made and frustrates over a boy who won't obey orders. Don wants to put the machine out of commission but when John finds the lunch bag, he stops Don from doing it. Smith comes out of hiding after they leave and goes to Robot, who tells him, "It is imperative I do not abandon my station."Smith pulls his power pack out and fiddles with it. He can't have the Robot bearing false (ie--true to everyone else) witness against him and makes Robot forget--erase his memory banks that Smith was anywhere near the Tauron machine. They leave and the machine bursts and beeps.

Will is in Davey's jacket as he has been since they left the house of that traitorous Aunt Clara. A heavy set big kid (Theodore) and another skinnier kid tease Will, calling him a spaceman and saying maybe he is in orbit. The blond skinny kid knew about the first space family and the ship. Will names the ship and pushes the blond kid who continues to tease him. The other kid, Theodore, questions Will about a stellar phorometer (used to measure diameter of stars), a parsec (which Will says is 19 million, 150 thousand miles--WARNING! WARNING! MISTAKE, MISTAKE! Uh, Will, it is 19,150,000,000,000----roughly 19 trillion, 150 billion), and how far it is to Alpha Centauri (Will says 5.3 light years). Will tells Theodore (okay, Buck--just kidding--see BUCK ROGERS season one)--he doesn't know what a Doppler Effect is. The other boys laugh at Will's commentary about Theo's unscientific answer of, "It's like a rainbow."This prompts Theo to say, "The real Will Robinson's dead, so're his folks---they're all dead, everybody knows that--everyone that was on that ship is dead, they're skeletons floating around in space."Will hits him and pushes him down. Ruth stops it and Theo tells her Will started it. After Ruth takes Will away, Theo says, "No foster parents ever gonna take him in--he's gonna be stuck here the rest of his life."NOTE: Theo grew up to be the worst serial killer of 1998.

ACT THREE

John and Don search. John suggest the ship's radio scope. Don wants to work on the food purifier. Smith lays, listening to the Robot's programmed (?) jargon about him, "Dr. Smith is a loyal self sacrificing member of the Jupiter II crew. He's incapable of telling the truth."Smith smiles at this but then realizes what the Robot said and gets mad at him. Robot tells him it is imperative he return to the Tauron machine. Smith tells him to repeat what he last said. Robot says, "Dr. Smith is incapable."Smith yells, "...finish...of telling a lie, you ninny."Robot says Earth time 1200 hours--he must be at the machine.

Will is brought before a town council--all of three people--a bald old man, a spinster, and another--all afraid of being made a laughin' stock if Will's story proves false. George frustrates over Will continuing to ask about the phone call. George leaves Town Hall. Ruth asks Will why his father didn't make the journey. Will tells her the truth, then sneaks out as Ruth confers with the town trio. Will hides in a corner near a phone booth as the bus pulls away. He runs to the General Store and asks to use the phone. At first, the storeman--Grover--allows him to call. Will calls Colonel Mason at Alpha Control--CAPE KENNEDY (which is in Florida). Grover, hearing how expensive it will cost, kicks Will off the phone. Will picks up carbon tetrachloride but it is 89 cents. Will backs out, "Charge it to Mr. John Robinson."Grover asks where he lives. Will says, "Priplanus."Will runs out right into Sheriff George. Will pleads for the carbon but gives it back to Grover. The sheriff takes Will back. Grover comments that Priplanus is not a street near here. Dope.

ACT FOUR

Sad music via WELCOME STRANGER. Will mopes about Davey's room, locked in. He tries the window. Clara asks Will to have lunch and brings a tray in. Will tells her to leave him alone and blames her, "You ruined everything."Will has to be on that roof at 12 o'clock noon. When Clara tells him the town council and the Sheriff won't like that, Will says, "Haven't they done enough? The least they can do is let me go back to my family."Clara tells Will he can join their family but he counters by telling her he does not want a brother and wants to go back to his family. Clara says, "You're a fine boy, Will, and we love you."Will says, "That's no good, that's no good. No one understands."

Smith lays on a rock and wants his sterling character traits recited by the Robot. Robot says, "That does not compute."To go, he has to ward Smith off using electric charges. He leaves and exits the area quite fast, sliding away quickly. Smith chases him. John and the Robinson females look for Will. John uses binoculars and sees Smith chasing the Robot. Don comes running to them.

Davey asks Will, "Can I come in?"Will is on the bed pouting, "It's your room."We hear old style sad music, not heard on LOST IN SPACE before. Will tells him that Alpha Control will probably put him and his aunt away for life after they find out what they did by locking him up. Davey tells Will his story is hard to believe but asks Will about space. He tells Will he thought he saw a flash or lightning when Will dropped snow on him. He tells the boy he wants to study physics in college. Will tells him space is not so different than Earth once you find a place you could live on. He explains the forms of life you meet in space look different but aren't so different either. He isn't sure their feelings are the same as ours but you have to be real careful and watch out that they don't misunderstand your reasons for being there (this sounds like a reference to THE SKY IF FALLING). The aliens molecules may be arranged differently which is why he had to translate what their arrangement is to what our arrangement is. It is eight minutes to 12. They run out, Will stopping briefly to put Davey's jacket back on and wave to Clara, "Bye Aunt Clara, thank you for everything."They run out; Clara follows but shuts the door and moves much slower. The two beat Davey's old record of four minutes and they have time to spare. Davey asks to come with him but the Robot is only set for Will. Will gasps about the carbon tet so Davey runs to the General Store to grab the carbon tetrachloride. Davey gives Grover a dollar. Grover asks about his change and Davey pops back in and tells him he'll get it later. He runs to Will and hands the carbon bottle up to the freckle faced boy. Will is going to tell the others all about Davey and how he helped him. Will says, "And thank your Aunt Clara, she was nice really and Miss Ruth at the boy's home."Will gives Davey back his jacket and says, "Merry Christmas."Davey sincerely says, "Sure--and a Happy New Year."The Sheriff, Lacy, and Aunt Clara come running in the snow to them. The ray comes down and takes Will. Snow dislodges as they watch the ray go up and the snow hits the Sheriff on the head. Lacy says, "Alpha Control will be here in one hour."George tells him, "Tell them anything."

The others finally find Will but didn't see him ray back in. When they find him, they don't believe he was on Earth!!! Maureen tells him they searched half the planet for him. On signal overload the machine burns outs. Will tells them where he's been, "Well, I've been on Earth all morning in a little place called Hatfield Four Corners in Vermont, and they sure are behind the times there. They wouldn't even let me call Alpha Control to send a rescue ship. They thought I was some kind of nut."Maureen tells him to curb his wild tales or they may think the same thing. He shows them the carbon tet bottle which reads Hatfield's Hardware. Smith realizes it was true and takes the Robot off with him, "Come along."The machine blows parts off itself. John hugs a scared Maureen.

CLIFFHANGER: Robot digs with a shovel, completing the task Smith was supposed to do. Smith tells him now dig a 90 degree angle toward the hydroponic garden. He tells Will that the muscle of machine allows them more time for intellectual pursuits. Will says, "Dad says machines do too much work."John calls as he and Don start toward the area. Smith quickly takes the shovel from the Robot as the two men arrive. Don says, "I see it but I don't believe it."Smith says, "Go away, Major, you irk me."Smith throws the shovel when the two men leave to go get two pipes for the irrigation system. Will looks at Smith, "You fibbed."Smith tells him, "Never once did I say I was responsible."A strange machine like sound occurs, dreamlike and then a wind sound is heard. Smith's eyes get wide, "I am being summoned."Will follows a tranced Dr. Smith under a tree to another area. There are three box-cages--electronically lit and with clear, glass like material on three sides. One opens and Smith goes inside it. It closes. Will bangs on it. A hairy, biped monster with two horns shows up. It has blinking, glowing eyes. Will falls but gets up and runs off. The monster follows him. An extreme close up of the monster's face!

TO BE CONTINUED NEXT WEEK...this slides away to be replaced with Aa new slide in...

SORRY! TO BE CONTINUED TWO WEEKS FROM TONIGHT, SAME TIME, SAME CHANNEL.

REVIEW: Okay, so there really are places like Hatfield Four Corners in the United States--even in upstate New York, Pennsylvania, and other places. I've seen them first hand. It did seem like Will back in time and I thought he did go back to the 1940s or 1950s--I mean the phone he uses is the same phone type (and probably the same prop) Maureen uses in the third season's VISIT TO A HOSTILE PLANET when the Robinsons go to 1947--and there Maureen tells the girls, "I've seen pictures of people using these but I'm sure how to work this."That town could have come right out of IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE or even MAYBERRY RFD and ANDY GRIFFITH SHOW. And Clara could have been Aunt Bee. Donald Losby is an excellent actor and did a wonderful job in THE FUGITIVE second season episode CRY UNCLE (with Ron Howard as his little brother). He also appeared in BLUE LIGHTS-TO KILL A TOY SOLDIER. The Irwin Allen crossovers with THE FUGITIVE could fill a book. For some reason, the Robot seems unable to act independently in this episode and most of the others before this one--so it all fits---but why he couldn't tell Smith the reason he couldn't leave before Smith pulled his power pack and tampered with it is beyond me. In any event, the Robot is starting to revolt against Smith by now--a few quips about Smith in THE RAFT started it in a small way. And how did the Robot know where Earth was? Well, he never really told anyone he didn't know--and no one apparently asked him. I always felt there was more to the Robot than met the eye and that perhaps he was keeping things to himself for some programming that someone else did to him--NOT SMITH but perhaps an alien (we know from later episodes aliens have visited Earth before and have tampered with the Robot-PRINCESS OF SPACE and that at least one civilization resembles him--Industro robots in THE MECHANICAL MEN). At least one fan has written a story about Penny's trip from this episode's teaser and act one. In the tale, DAUGHTER FROM THE PAST, Penny goes to the year 2006 and meets the Robinsons in that year. Why John didn't experiment with the machine is also a puzzle. Alpha Centauri is really 4.34 light years away from Earth or 25 trillion miles! Will's parsec answer is also wrong--SEE ABOVE. Also carbon tetrachloride is highly toxic--how did the Robinsons use it to preserve food? Despite all the wrong things about this episode, it gives a good Christmas feel--being aired between Christmas and New Year's Eve helped (Dec. 29, 1965). It also gives a great contrast between the planet and Earth, perhaps the only episode to do so. In addition, there are some creepy things about how the people on Earth think of the Robinsons (Aunt Clara tells Will many have forgotten about them already; Theodore tells him the Robinsons are all skeletons floating around in space). We can assume that perhaps the authorities will now know the Robinsons are on Priplanus or at least are alive. If not, they will know in the second episode of season two, WILD ADVENTURE. Many people fondly remember this episode. This is the first story to have SPACE in the title. On another note, the adults'premise that children shouldn't take science fiction too seriously is mocked here; however, I wonder if that is wise: in September 1979 a boy from St. Paul, Minnesota, Eddie Seidel Jr, jumped 200 feet from High Bridge between St. Paul and West St Paul. He did this because BATTLESTAR GALACTICA had been canceled by ABC. Ironically, the show was renewed as the awful GALACTICA 1980 renewed. I hope it is to his parents' comfort that that series was very unlike the first series as his step-mother said, "I hope we never see it on TV again because it would just crush us."Obviously, the poor boy had other problems but this does counter the argument against having kids just blindly get so into science fiction (or anything!) so much that they throw their very lives into it, only to find out, it can fall out from under them. In the scheme of things any canceled TV show means very little. This sad story really touched me and should remind us that reality is more important than any type of entertainment. We all feel bad when our favorite shows are canceled but keeping it all in the proper perspective helps. Let us remember Eddie Seidel and his family taught us and remind us of this. If any good can come out of something like this, it may save other young, troubled lives.